Dong Zhou wrote:-Voters will have to show proof of identity before being allowed to vote in some areas as part of a pilot scheme to reduce electoral fraud. Birmingham and Bradford two councils trying this out, Labour has backed this

Labour seem to have changed their mind or BBC were wrong in first instance, Labour are opposing the idea.

-Corbyn's team have got upset at President Obama's comment that Democrats are more grounded in reality then Trump's Republicans becuase questioner asked about Corbyn and Trump (the outgoing President ignored the Corbyn bit and didn't mention UK politics).

“You, are a rebellious son who abandoned his father. You are a cruel brigand who murdered his lord. How can Heaven and Earth put up with you for long? And unless you die soon, how can you face the sight of men?”

“You, are a rebellious son who abandoned his father. You are a cruel brigand who murdered his lord. How can Heaven and Earth put up with you for long? And unless you die soon, how can you face the sight of men?”

-Corbyn says he gets the lack of trust in politics and EU, says Brexit is a chance to do things differently

-Downing Street not happy with John Kerry's comments about Israel "we do not believe that it is appropriate to attack the composition of the democratically-elected government of an ally." and think settlements have become too much the focus

-Best year for the Footsie since 2013 but our currency is fighting for worst major one of the year

“You, are a rebellious son who abandoned his father. You are a cruel brigand who murdered his lord. How can Heaven and Earth put up with you for long? And unless you die soon, how can you face the sight of men?”

-Julian Brazier, David Crausby, Steve Webb to be knighted, Vera Baird to become Dame, Baroness Williams to become Order of the Companions of Honour. Usual unhappiness at Tory party figures getting rewarded

“You, are a rebellious son who abandoned his father. You are a cruel brigand who murdered his lord. How can Heaven and Earth put up with you for long? And unless you die soon, how can you face the sight of men?”

“You, are a rebellious son who abandoned his father. You are a cruel brigand who murdered his lord. How can Heaven and Earth put up with you for long? And unless you die soon, how can you face the sight of men?”

“You, are a rebellious son who abandoned his father. You are a cruel brigand who murdered his lord. How can Heaven and Earth put up with you for long? And unless you die soon, how can you face the sight of men?”

-Corbyn rejects Fabian Society call for electoral pact or their suggestion he can only get 150 seat and 20% of vote

-McCluskey says Corbyn could be forced to step down before 2020 if polls continue to be so "awful" and Unite election was being used as a proxy war by Labour right, Labour has to show it understands working class concerns about immigration, gives Corbyn full support.

-Government accused of ignoring CES tech show and failing to support tech companies

-UK's ambassador to the EU, Sir Ivan Rogers, resigns. To Remainers and those not keen on Brexit, a huge blow losing one of our most experienced negotiators and fearing honest advice is being curbed by May, to Brexiteers yay for someone who is too Europhile and too much of a pessimist going, they also argue he may have cost Cameron the referendum.

A blow? Yes, only two months till article 50, the timing is a real pain. Bad headlines. A loss of a respected diplomat, a skilled negotiator and civil servant who knows the EU. However May will be, if she can get a diplomat installed quickly, not displeased about the chance to install someone whose attitude towards Brexit more suits her own. Sir Rogers caution had led to tension (and the usual abuse from Brexiteers who saw his views as high treason) with Number 10 but she needs to act to stop a emerging reputation for driving out honest advice

-Not sure Corbyn will be pleased with John Healey agreeing that Labour's polling is awful and that Fabian Society raised a lot of good points about long running issues.

-Farage accuses May of doing nothing yet about Brexit and failing to start trade talks (suggesting something illegal when your former aide has just plead guilty...), Downing Street rejects this. Farage also wants our diplomats to resign on mass so he/the ideologically pure can get the job

-Scottish Labour rejects idea of pact with SNP as SNP are not a socialist/progressive party

“You, are a rebellious son who abandoned his father. You are a cruel brigand who murdered his lord. How can Heaven and Earth put up with you for long? And unless you die soon, how can you face the sight of men?”

-Sir Rogers tells his staff they need to tell truth to power about EU and strongly hints May's government does not like hearing uncomfortable truths and free trade doesn't happen naturally but requires agreement on all sides, that UK badly lacks experience and expertise compared to EU

-Environmental Audit Committee warns new laws will be needed to protect wildlife after Brexit and farms could be hit including tariffs and loss of income

-Hammond touring Gulf

-Leadsom hints farmers will be able to hire seasonal workers from abroad after Brexit (if farms are getting exemption from efforts to cut immigration, how many other sectors will?), cutting red tape like 3 crop rule, will be a successor to common agriculture policy, her main priorities are to increase farm production and exports and “to become the first generation to leave the environment in a better state than we found it”.

-IDS says Sir Rogers was untrustworthy and trying to sabotage Brexit with leaks, that government sidelined him due to untrustworthiness. As yet he has no evidence for the various claims against Sir Rogers but since when did facts and fairness matter when purges must be done? Says Sir Rogers replacement doesn't need to be a Brexiteer, just accept the will of the people, EU is conflicted as to what to do

-Jonathan Powell argues that demanding a Brexit diplomat undermines the law for civil servants neutrality, warns civil servants must tell their ministers EU thinking or else ministers will be going in without full knowledge and not prepared for traps

-Momentum and TSSA union make video saying the rail increases go to foreigners, Creasy accuses them of xenophobia

-Whittingdale says part 2 of Leveson would have to be done by another judge as Leveson doesn't want it

“You, are a rebellious son who abandoned his father. You are a cruel brigand who murdered his lord. How can Heaven and Earth put up with you for long? And unless you die soon, how can you face the sight of men?”

-Sir Tim Barrow, former envoy to Moscow, becomes our ambassador to EU. Experienced figure but Farage not a fan

-Civil service seems to be fighting back against attacks on Sir Rogers using former heads and their union

-First Minister Foster says calls to for her to go have element of misogyny about them and Sinn Feinn trying to undermine union

-First Minister Jones says Brexit plans should be shown to them soon so there can be a united UK front

-Services sector activity jumped to a 17-month high in December

-Dugdale calls for federal UK

-Andy Haldane, the chief economist at the Bank of England, says the profession of economists is in crises and needs to deliver it's messages better, says pre-crash models failed to take into account behaviour, economy so far is ignoring Brexit, UK numeracy has to be a lot better as we are on par with Albania

-Economist frontcover has "Theresa Maybe", accuses her of indecision, of no signature policy after six months, of dithering and being like Brown.

=====

-Farage gets LBC show

-Villiers goes for Sir Rogers "I thought Sir Ivan’s resignation email was, I don’t know, rambling, a bit emotionally needy, not something you would expect from a civil servant of that calibre."

-Canary complaining Charlie Brooker's comedy program (and trying to get him to say BBC forced him to do it on twitter) made jokes about Corbyn seems a bit unwise.

“You, are a rebellious son who abandoned his father. You are a cruel brigand who murdered his lord. How can Heaven and Earth put up with you for long? And unless you die soon, how can you face the sight of men?”

-Andy Haldane says economists should look at how weather forecasting improved after that Michael Fish moment

-May to visit Trump in Spring

-Clive Betts, chairman of the Communities and Local Government committee, Public Accounts Committee chairman Meg Hillier and her Health Committee counterpart Dr Sarah Wollaston calls for cross party efforts on funding for social care

-Erna Solberg, the prime minister of Norway predicts very hard Brexit

-Gerry Adams says Stormont has reached a defining point with the Foster crises

-Dugdale says UK is more important then EU for Scotland

-Soames on IDS: "IDS attack on Ivan Rogers unforgivable am ashamed a colleague could be so ignorant and rude about an Official of such distinction #buttonup."

-Former Cameron adviser Daniel Korski with a look at why Remain lost and defending Cameron from some of the criticisms

“You, are a rebellious son who abandoned his father. You are a cruel brigand who murdered his lord. How can Heaven and Earth put up with you for long? And unless you die soon, how can you face the sight of men?”